


Desperation

by haze517



Category: Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, Linked Universe - Fandom, LinkedUniverse - Fandom
Genre: Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 13:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19992829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haze517/pseuds/haze517
Summary: The unthinkable happens... what is Wild to do?





	1. Part 1

One would think that with his ability to slow time for flurry rushes, perfect parrys, and the like, Wild would be able to keep an eye out for his fellow heroes in the heat of battle and be there quickly in case they didn’t have the time to react. And most of the time, he could. The others couldn’t depend on him all the time, of course, but they trusted Wild to have their backs. Even when they couldn’t count on Wild, they had the rest of the group.

So it should’ve been impossible for this to happen. Sure, there’d been more enemies than they’d expected, but it was nothing the Links couldn’t handle.

They’d transferred into Wild’s Hyrule out of nowhere and been dropped right smack in the middle of a group of enemies, unprepared for a fight. They’d sprung into action immediately, of course. Surprisingly, everything had been going fine. Wild and the others took down monster after monster.

He hadn’t noticed a few of the smarter silver and gold enemies had snuck around to the back of the group until it was too late for his speed to do anything.

An enormous golden moblin had snuck up behind the group, and _no one noticed_. Wild opened his mouth to call out a warning to Warriors as the moblin loomed over him, about to strike him with its enormous club. But before he could, he saw that _someone had been faster._

Legend moved, abandoning his fight and desperately placing himself between the club and Warriors at the last second.

A sickening crack resounded.

The others paused, seeing what happened, but unable to stop their fights. The Links finished off the enemies as soon as they could.

Wild and the others rushed over to Warriors, who crouched over Legend, checking on him. Wild prayed to the goddess, begging for Legend to be alright as he held his breath, waiting for Warriors to give a diagnosis.

“I need fairies _now_ ,” Warriors demanded. His voice was steady, but Wild could see that Warriors was _scared_.

Everyone frantically searched their bags, hoping to find a fairy, a potion--anything. Four pulled out a red potion from his bag, which Warriors snatched quickly. He pulled Legend’s limp body into his lap, forcing the liquid down his throat.

They all watched in anticipation, hoping that _something, anything_ would happen.

Warriors swatted a white and blue bird thing away from Legend, but it ducked under Warriors’s arm and snuck some sort of rod out of Legend’s pack, which lay on the ground near him. Wild didn't care, though he noted the creature seemed familiar, and focused his attention on Legend and Warriors.

They waited, hoping for a change. But Warriors looked up at them, a defeated expression on his face.

“He’s gone,” Warriors stated, his voice threatening to shake.

Various whispers of “no” and mutterings of disbelief spread.

“Are you sure?” asked Time.

Warriors nodded grimly.

“Is there really nothing we can do?” Wind questioned.

Wild stepped closer. He’d never tried using Mipha’s Grace on another person, but if there was a time, this was it.

“I’ll try Mipha’s Grace, but I can’t promise it’ll work,” he explained shakily to the others as he kneeled on the other side of Legend, maneuvering his head into Wild’s lap.

He concentrated, trying to ignore the blood that soaked Legend’s hair and face. _Please, Mipha. **Please**_. Wild begged.

Nothing.

Nothing happened.

Wild shook his head.

It was dead silent. No one could seem to comprehend what had just transpired.

Legend _died._

And he wouldn’t be coming back.

“Wh-what do we do with him?” Hyrule asked, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

“Wild, this is your Hyrule, right?” Time asked.

Wild nodded, moving Legend’s head back onto Warriors’ lap and standing.

“What’re we close to?”

Wild pulled out his Sheikah Slate and referenced the map. “Well, we’re under the Cliffs of Quince. If we turn around and go that way,” he gestured, “then take the path, we’ll reach Hateno village within about 11 and a half hours at walking speed, if we don’t stop for breaks or get ambushed by monsters.” “What do you think we should do, Wild?” “Um… we should take him there. We’ll find a place to… bury him… that’s not out in the middle of nowhere. There’s probably a graveyard there, though I haven’t seen it myself.” Wild tried to not think too much about the situation so he wouldn’t break down over losing another comrade and friend due to his incompetence. He focused on the fact that he needed to lead the others.

“If we want to make it before nightfall, we need to leave now,” Time stated. “Let’s get going.”

Warriors pulled himself to his feet and scooped up Legend, slinging him over his shoulder.

The rest of the group solemnly stood and followed as they all began walking to their destination.

No one spoke.

They were all in varying degrees of shock. Most of the group was stony-faced, still processing what had just happened.

Some looked like they were trying not to cry.

Wild did his best to think only about the path they needed to follow, pushing their situation to the back of his mind.


	2. Part 2

They walked for hours, not stopping. Everyone was exhausted, both mentally and physically from the fight, from walking, and from their situation. Time and Twilight had forced Warriors to give them turns carrying Legend so Warriors didn’t wear himself out any more than he already had.

The sun had just dipped behind the horizon, but Wild pushed the group further, insisting that they’d reach the village within an hour, so it’d be counterproductive to camp for the night.

Sure enough, they reached Hateno not too long after. The gates of Hateno made a welcome sight, and the group followed Wild into the village and across the bridge leading to his house. Wild pushed open the door, ushering the others inside.

The Links laid out their bedrolls--some upstairs in the loft and the rest downstairs in the main space, once they had moved the table and the rest of the furniture to the space under the stairs. Sky, who had carried Legend’s belongings, pulled out Legend’s bedroll from his pack, laying it out, and Time laid Legend on top of it.

Wild, and Warriors, he noticed, spared a sad glance at Legend as the group headed to bed; the rest of the group seemed to do their best to avoid looking at the body.

—————————————————————

Wild launched himself into a sitting position. He glanced around; it was the middle of the night, and everyone lay asleep. An idea had just struck him as he lay in bed after a nightmare had awoken him and kept him from sleeping. There might be something he could do. But would it even work? Well, it couldn’t hurt to try.

Wild swung his legs onto the floor, careful to avoid stepping on Wind. He maneuvered carefully past him and Sky, and crept downstairs.

He made it to the other end of the room, almost tripping over Hyrule in the process. He looked down at Legend, steeling his resolve. He bent down and slung Legend’s arm over his shoulder, wrapping his arm around Legend’s waist (he couldn’t bear to think of him as just a body). Wild staggered a bit as he tried to move the two of them to the door--he hadn’t realized that it would be so difficult to carry someone so close to his size, though he should’ve figured that would be the case, especially since Legend wasn’t exactly able to move or support himself ~~because he was dead.~~

He tried to focus on something, anything other than how cold and limp Legend was. It was way more tricky than he’d assumed--oh, who was he kidding, he was making things up as he went--to get past the sleeping heroes without waking anyone. But he did it, and he finally managed to get out the door. Wild carefully shut the door behind him, preventing it from waking the others.

Wild traipsed across the bridge, trying very hard to not drop Legend off the edge--the bridge seemed a whole lot narrower under these circumstances. He propelled the two of them down the hill towards the entrance of the village, making a left before he got that far.

He stopped in front of the Horned Statue.

He carefully propped Legend’s body up against the wall before pulling out his Sheikah Slate. He realized he should’ve done this part first, but it was too late now.

He opened the map, selecting the Ta’loh Naeg Shrine and letting himself dissolve into blue ribbons of light before reforming just outside of Kakariko Village. He hurried away from the village, heading towards Cotera’s fountain.

He crouched once he got close, collecting the fairies that flew lazily around. Once he had those, he teleported back to Hateno and hurried back to the statue.

He approached the Horned Statue.

“You…” it beckoned. “Come to tamper with your essence, yes?”

“Actually…” Wild paused. How to ask this? “When you mess with my essence, you can trade health for stamina, right?”

“That is how it works, yes,” the statue replied, ominous yet bored.

“So if I give you my health, could you transfer it to him?” Wild asked, gesturing at Legend’s body.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” asked the Horned Statue. “It wouldn’t hurt to try,” it suggested.

Wild definitely disagreed, but it was worth a shot. This was his last option, and he was desperately hanging onto this last hope.

“Do it,” he said firmly.

“Why don’t we start with…. Three? I don’t know how many units it will take to revive the dead.”

Wild nodded. Three orbs were pulled from his chest into the statue, leaving Wild feeling a tad light-headed and dizzy.

The statue spat out a gold rupee. Wild picked it up and added three red rupees before giving them back to the statue. The statue released the orbs, which floated into Legend’s chest.

Nothing changed.

“Hmmm… seems like he needs more,” the statue commented. “Many more.”

“How many d’you think?”

“Let’s try… seven.”

Wild quickly pondered how many health units he had to begin with. He’d chosen to invest spirit orbs into stamina, giving him three full wheels. Including the spirit orbs from the One-Hit Obliterator trial, he’d had 28 units of health. And if he subtracted the three he’d just transferred, he had 25 left. And if the statue took another seven, he’d be left with eighteen. And that was plenty. Wild just wanted to ensure that he had at least one heart left for himself-- he didn't want for the transfers to not bring Legend back and have both of them left dead.

“Do it,” Wild confirmed. He could almost feel the statue leering at him.

Seven orbs were taken from Wild, into the statue, and then into Legend once monetary transactions were made. The ground swayed a bit, but Wild stood firm.

Legend still wasn’t alive.

“Why don’t we try eight this time?”

Wild sighed, then confirmed. He had to steady himself as his legs almost gave out.

Even with eighteen units now in Legend, his… condition… didn’t change.

“Five,” the statue demanded.

Wild complied, trying not to panic when his vision blanked out for a moment. He was a bit worried--he only had five left.

He moved over to check on Legend. Still no changes.

“Two,” Wild suggested.

Nothing improved, he only had three units left, and Wild was fighting to not collapse where he stood.

He transferred one more.

Nothing. The world spun around Wild.

He transferred one of the two remaining.

Legend gasped, his body desperately taking in air.

Wild dropped to his knees next to Legend due to both his freaking out that Legend was _back_ and _alive_ , but also because of how drained and nauseous and weak he felt.

Wild, trying to think through his hazy mind, asked all of the fairies he’d captured to heal Legend--while the statue had brought him back, Wild wasn’t sure if that would heal the wound that had killed him in the first place.

The fairies swirled around Legend, and the blood that had still been covering the right side of his head and face faded and vanished.

Wild lost his balance even though he was already on his knees, falling against Legend. His world continued to spin, reminding him of how he used to spin in circles at top speed in competitions to see who could go the longest with his sister, Aria, over a century ago when they’d both been little. It had always ended with the two of them sprawled on the ground, laughing, while also trying not to throw up from being so dizzy--they took their competitions seriously.

He was leaning against Legend’s chest, and he gave a relieved laugh when he felt Legend’s breathing even out.

Wild couldn’t stay awake through his exhaustion and nausea, and drifted off right there, against Legend, who was still propped up against the wall right next to the Horned Statue.


	3. Part 3

“What in the name of  _ Hylia, Wild?! _ ”

Wild groaned as he opened his eyes. His words ran together as he tiredly asked “whasgoinon?”

“That’s what  _ you  _ need to explain!” Twilight exclaimed. 

Wild didn’t understand what was happening. “Explain what?” he questioned. He pushed himself off of Legend, who he’d fallen asleep essentially on top of. A wave of nausea passed through him, preventing him from standing, but he sat upright on the ground, looking up at Twilight standing over him. 

Four came running, the rest of the group hurriedly following behind him.

“Oh!” Wild realized. He turned back to Legend, remembering what he’d done a few hours prior. 

The Links stared at the now-breathing, but still unconscious, Legend in disbelief.

Wild shook Legend’s shoulders, firmly calling his name.

Legend’s eyes opened blearily. He turned his head from side to side slowly, confused.

“Legend?” Warriors asked hesitantly.

Legend’s gaze met Warriors’. “Warriors?” he asked back, his voice shaky and light. “Wh-what’s going on?”

“I… don’t know. You… you di--”

“How are you feeling?” Wind interrupted.

“Been better,” Legend replied slowly. His voice gained a bit of strength as he continued. “What happened?”

Hyrule opened his mouth to speak, probably to brush it off, but Legend cut in.

“Don’t keep anything from me. Just tell me it how it is.”

Four spoke up. “You  _ died _ , Legend.”

“I-I did? But then how…” his voice trailed off.

“We don’t know. We all woke up this morning to find Wild and your body gone. We found the two of you here, with you alive,” Time explained, directing his attention at Wild now. “Care to explain?”

Wild floundered for a moment, having forgotten last night that he’d have to explain what he’d done.

He figured it’d be best to just explain it all rather than hide it and make things worse. Besides, the others wouldn’t make him take the units back from Legend--that’d kill him.

“This,” he gestured, “is the Horned Statue. I came across it and the first thing he did was take one of my units of health. Rude, I know. He gave it back, though. He explained to me what he does. A bit shady for my taste, but… basically, you can give him a unit of your health or a stamina vessel. He pays you a hundred rupees for it, and then you pay him 120 for him to trade it to the other thing.”

“Okay, that’s so sketchy I could draw a picture, but I guess it’s useful,” Four said, hesitant.

“Oh!” Wild exclaimed, realizing what the others thought he meant. “I never used it! I met him that one time and then I steered clear.”

Twi sighed, clearly relieved that Wild hadn’t been so stupid as to make deals with demons.

“Well, I guess until now, that is,” Wild continued.

Aaaand… there it was.

“I… I figured that since the statue can trade stamina and health, that maybe it could transfer some of my health to him,” Wild explained, gesturing to Legend. “As you can see, it worked.”

“Wait…” Twi thought out loud, “how much of your health did you have to give him for him to come back from the dead?”

“Uh…” Wild started, grimacing. “A lot.”

“How many?” Time asked, shooting Wild his Glare of Disapproval ™.

“All but one…”

“What?! Are you  _ insane _ ?!” Legend demanded. “You could’ve ended up dead too!”

“I was keeping track!” Wild defended himself. “I made sure I’d have at least one left! It wouldn’t do any good for us both to be dead! I wouldn’t have given them all away.”

“But you mean to tell me, that one hit from just about  _ any _ enemy would kill you?” Legend was mad.   
“I guess I hadn’t really thought about it.”

“That much is obvious,” Twi deadpanned.

“I guess it was a bit reckless--” Twilight scoffed, muttering ‘a bit’ under his breath. “BUT, Legend’s  _ alive  _ now! If there was something I could’ve done but didn’t and he was gone for good…”

“I understand where you’re coming from, Wild, but seriously…”

“I have an idea!” Wind jumped in. The others gave him their attention. “Well, Wild traded his health units or whatever through the statue into Legend, right? Well, why don't we do the same--we can each give a few of ours to Wild!”

“That just might work,” Time confirmed. “Am I correct in assuming that you all have roughly thirty units?” 

The Links nodded.

“There are seven of us, so if we each give him three, we should all be at a decent amount. He’ll have 22.”

“Seven of us? I see how it is, old man,” Legend started. “I can still--”

“No, Legend,” Wild cut him off. “I don’t want to risk you dying again. It took every single one of the units I gave you to revive you, so if you give any of them back… well…”

Wild was still against the others giving him their units, but he knew they’d insist. Plus, with how awful he still felt, he could really use more health. 

“Wild’s right,” Hyrule said, giving Legend a small smile. “We’ll get Wild back in good shape without you needing to do anything.”

Legend tried not to squirm under the stares of the group; the last time they’d seen him, he’d been dead, though, so it was understandable.

“So… how do we do this?” Sky asked Wild. 

“I’m not sure if all of you will be able to hear him, so I’ll guide you.” Wild stood, staggering a bit, but recovering his balance. He waved Sky over to him as he stood in front of the statue.

“I know you were listening,” Wild sternly told the statue. “Now buy three of his health units.”

Sky waited, shifting his balance from foot to foot while wringing his hands, clearly nervous. He was probably wishing that he hadn’t volunteered to go first. He stumbled a bit as three orbs were pulled from his chest. A gold rupee was left in their place.

Wild picked up the rupee before adding 60 of his own, passing it to the statue, who released the orbs into Wild’s chest. He still felt miserable but that had helped a lot.

Wild brought each of the Links (except for Legend and Sky, of course) forward in front of the statue. One by one, they sold three units to the statue. Once they’d all given up three, Wild stepped forward. He took all of the rupees the statue had paid them and added another 360 rupees on top of that. The statue took the money and released all the orbs into Wild. Wild was very glad that he’d wasted so much time hunting for and then selling meat--otherwise he probably wouldn’t have had enough money for all of this.

Wild felt so much better afterwards. He’d known he felt awful, but he forgot how bad it was. The nausea and pain and weakness dissolved as his strength returned.The rest of the group was a bit shaken that they’d gotten some of their units taken, but they were mostly glad that, somehow, everything had ended up alright.

“Well,” Wild said. “Why don’t I make us some breakfast?”

“Yes!” Wind crowed, breaking the tension. The group began filing back to Wild’s home.

Warriors extended a hand to Legend, who reluctantly took it. Legend’s legs wobbled a bit, but he steadied himself. 

“You good to walk?” Warriors inquired. 

Legend nodded. “I’m good.”

Legend started to walk away, following the others, but Warriors grabbed his wrist, waiting for the rest of the group to leave them behind.

Legend turned back to him. “Yeah?”

“Why did you do it?”

“Do what?” Legend asked, genuinely not knowing what Warriors was referencing.

“Why did you die for me?”

Legend froze. “I--I didn’t exactly think about it. I couldn’t just let you die when I could do something about it.”

“Well yeah, but--”

“No buts. It’s done and over with.”

“No, it’s not over! You literally  _ died _ , Legend! Why are you brushing it off like it’s no big deal?”

Legend stiffened and started walking away.

Warriors started forward to get him to stay, but stopped himself. He hadn’t expected Legend to actually tell him anything, so what he had said was a lot. Instead, though he was still unsatisfied, Warriors dropped it and followed Legend to Wild’s house.

—————————————————————

Wild had made an absolutely heavenly breakfast for them all, but Warriors couldn’t enjoy it.

The guilt was gnawing at him relentlessly and he had to constantly glance at Legend to reassure himself that Legend wasn’t dead.

Warriors still didn’t understand why Legend had taken that blow for him.

Legend had made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t happy to be traveling with them. None of the Links wanted to go on another world-saving adventure, but Legend was being so  _ petty _ about this whole situation.

So why had he gotten himself killed for Warriors’s sake when he didn’t care? Goddess, it was eating him up.

The others had already finished their food, but Warriors hadn’t eaten much. 

“Was it not good?” Wild questioned.

“Oh! No, it was great!” Warriors forced a smile. “I’m just not all that hungry.”

“You? Not eating? Are you alright in the head?” Legend questioned, a small smirk resting on his face.

Warriors rolled his eyes, ignoring Legend. He stood, returning to his bedroll and belongings which, much like the rest of the groups’, were left where they’d been the night before. When they’d woken up to discover Wild and Legend missing, no one had bothered to pack up. Warriors began cleaning up his things, the rest of the group following suit.

“Hey, has anyone seen my sand rod?” Legend asked.

“I was carrying your stuff, but I didn’t lose anything,” Sky replied.

Legend frowned. “That’s odd. Where could it be? I know I had it with me…” he trailed off.

Wild almost fell to the ground when the world started spinning again. On the bright side, he realized, the others stumbled too and they seemed to be having the same issue. So they were switching worlds again.

The heroes pulled out their weapons in case they were dropped in the middle of enemies like last time--they sure didn’t want the same ending.

Thankfully, however, they were dropped in the middle of an empty, peaceful field.

“Oh, Legend, this is close to your house, right?” Four questioned.

Legend confirmed. “Should only take a half hour at most.”

The group started on their way to Legend’s abode, chatting happily and enjoying the prospect that they’d be able to sleep under a roof for the second night in a row.

Legend opened the door, strolling right inside with the others right behind him.

Ravio froze when he saw the group enter. He pulled off his hood, taking a step closer. His eyes were wide as he ran at Legend, almost knocking him over as he pulled him into a hug.

Legend grunted. “Uh, Ravio? What’s going on?”

Ravio just squeezed him tighter. “How are you even here?” he demanded shakily as he pulled away.

“What’re you talking about?”

Ravio held up Legend’s sand rod.

“How did you get that?” Legend asked.

“It’s the only thing that you haven’t bought from me… you’re still renting it.”

Legend’s eyes widened. “ _ Oh _ ,” he said, realizing what Ravio meant.

“You died, didn’t you Link?” Ravio said it as a statement.

Legend gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.

“How are you here, then?”

“They managed to bring me back.”

“You’re explaining this more in depth later, you know.”

Legend gave a slight laugh. “I know.”

Ravio pulled his rabbit hood back over his face and headed towards the kitchen. “I’ll make some hot chocolate for you guys!” he called over his shoulder as he left the Links at the entry.

“Legend? How did Ravio have your sand rod? And how did he know what happened?” Sky asked.

“Ravio rents out,” he fake coughed twice with an “overpriced” muttered in between, “items, right? But part of his policy to ensure he doesn’t lose any of his things is that if the person renting stuff dies or loses the item, Ravio’s bird Sheerow will come and collect the thing.”

Wild gasped. “So that’s why that bird was there!” he exclaimed. “I knew it seemed familiar!”

Warriors’s eyes widened. “I remember swatting it away when we were trying to save you.”

“Wait, so why did Ravio know you died? Why didn’t he think you might’ve lost the rod?” Twilight asked.

Legend shrugged. “I don’t lose things. Plus, if I had lost it, I would’ve had to pay a ridiculous amount to get it back and Ravio knows I wouldn’t want to do that. Or, you know, he’s psychic.”

“He is?!” asked Wind.

Legend didn’t give an answer. He’d meant it as a joke, but hey, he could profit off of the others thinking that Ravio was psychic, couldn’t he? He could convince them to do all sorts of stupid things to avoid meeting with a terrible fate. His internal prankster self was thrilled.

“Link!” Ravio called from the other room. “Come help me! I need to make a lot and extra hands will make it easier!”

Legend rolled his eyes but complied.

The rest of the group settled into the modest living room and not too long after, Legend and Ravio came to join them after bringing mugs of hot chocolate to everyone. There wasn’t much space left, but Legend and Ravio squeezed into the couch, with Ravio on one end and Legend squished between him and Warriors.

Warriors scooched over as much as possible from Legend without making it obvious; he couldn’t look at Legend without the guilt bubbling up.

Legend, of course, didn’t notice, moving closer to Warriors so they weren’t all so crammed. 

“Hey, Legend?” Wind asked, starting up a conversation. “What exactly does your sand rod do?”

“Ah, It makes pillars of sand you can walk across and stuff. Oh, but it only works if you’re in a sandy environment.”

“Isn’t that pretty much useless then?” questioned Hyrule.

Legend shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. But I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. You know?”

“So that’s why you’re such a hoarder!” Wind exclaimed.

“Being unprepared gets you killed, so yeah. I’ve held onto all the items I’ve gotten on my quests.”

Wind stage-whispered. “Hoarder!”

Legend huffed good-naturedly as the group laughed.

The Links continued joking and having a good time, sipping their drinks.

“There’s one thing I was wondering…” Sky said slowly. “Ravio, it seemed like you were expecting us to show up.” Ravio nodded and Sky continued. “How’d you know we were coming?”

Ravio shrugged. “Just had a feeling.”

The rest of the group exchanged glances, starting to believe what Legend had said about Ravio being psychic.

Legend took a sip from his mug to hide the conspiratorial grin that split across his face.

Wild smiled too, relieved that everything had worked out. 

He hadn’t noticed the way Legend’s hands shook or how pale his face was when he excused himself to use the restroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of desperation…. but not of this mini-series I’m writing. There’ll be more, I promise.

**Author's Note:**

> I really didn’t mean to make the “dead silent” pun but it just happened and I couldn’t just leave it out…. I’m sorry
> 
> I really walked all the way (barely tilting the control stick--not even using the normal running pace) from the monster camp underneath the Cliffs of Quince all the way to Hateno Village to get the time estimate


End file.
